Baseball: Dana Point tops Newport Harbor All-Stars, 11-3

Richard Dunn

DANA POINT - Even before the Newport Harbor Baseball Association

Bronco A All-Stars (ages 11-12) open District 2 play, they’ll have a good

idea about their opponents.

They’re all good.

As a precursor to the District 2 All-Star competition July 11, the

NHBA Bronco All-Stars play in other tournaments to gain experience, scout

opponents and, well, evaluate their own squad.

“We’re not the best, but we’re a good team. We’re seeing the best of

the best,” NHBA Bronco Manager Ron D’Cruz said, following his team’s

second loss of the day Saturday -- an 11-3 defeat against Dana Point A in

the first round of the Dana Point Invitational at Del Obispo Park.

NHBA, which dropped its first game Saturday morning, 9-3, against St.

Hedwig’s A (Los Alamitos), trailed early against Dana Point and never

recovered.

“This year, our practice tournaments are harder than our district

tournament,” said D’Cruz, whose Newport Harbor Bronco team is competing

in its third postseason tournament, following a 2-2-1 showing at Los Alamitos and a 3-2 record at the Memorial Day Tournament in Irvine, won

by Dana Point.

In the second game Saturday, Newport Harbor’s Nick Svendsen pitched

five strong innings against Dana Point, but was hurt by the little

things, like back-to-back squeeze plays that produced three runs for Dana

Point.

Leading off the first inning for Dana Point, Zach Stuart struck out,

but the third strike got away from the catcher and Stuart reached first

safely, then eventually scored the game’s first run after a couple of

NHBA errors.

Dana Point scored twice in the first and once in the second, then

added three in the third for a 6-1 lead. After Eric Ehlow and Matt

McCloskey singled for Dana Point, they scored on successive squeezes by

Robert Mojica and Peter Davis. Mojica scored from second on Davis’

squeeze bunt.

The only ball truly hit hard against Svendsen was Ehlow’s solo home

run to right field in the fifth, which gave Dana Point a 7-2 edge.

Newport Harbor’s Danny Moskovits singled and scored in the second, and

teammate Andrew Kaban opened the fourth inning by reaching on an error

and coming around to score on a wild pitch.

In the top of the sixth, Newport Harbor cut the deficit to 7-3, when

Brock Schuler walked to start the inning and scored on Peter Hapke’s RBI

infield single. Hapke and Moskovits had two hits each for Newport Harbor.

Erik Bonn and Ben Frazier, Newport’s Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, were held

in check by Dana Point’s pitching staff.

R.J. D’Cruz had two walks and Jackson Massingill added a fifth-inning

single for Newport Harbor. Schuler also singled, while NHBA teammates

Niko Hernandez and Troy Seeber reached on walks. Adrian Rodriguez took

his cuts at the plate.

Dana Point broke it open with four runs in the sixth as it sent 10

batters to plate. Ryan Curtis walked with the bases loaded to score the

inning’s first run, then another walk and two infield singles plated

three more runs as Dana Point built an 11-3 advantage.

The Newport Harbor Broncos open District 2 Tournament action against

Los Alamitos July 11 at 5 p.m. in an eight-team double-elimination

tournament at Harvard Park in Irvine (Harvard and Walnut).